- A Phase 3 clinical trial (SUMIT) assessing AstraZeneca's (NYSE:AZN) Orphan Drug-tagged selumetinib in combination with dacarbazine for the treatment of uveal melanoma failed to achieve its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). The full analysis of the data is ongoing.
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Selumetinib, licensed from Array BioPharma (NASDAQ:ARRY) in 2003, is under development for the second-line treatment, in combination with docetaxel, of KRAS-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer, differentiated thyroid cancer and neurofibromatosis Type 1. It inhibits the MEK enzyme in the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway in cancer cells to prevent the tumor from growing.
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Uveal melanoma (UM), comprising 5% of all melanoma cases, occurs when cancer cells grow in the tissues of the eye. No effective treatments for advanced UM exist.
- AZN shares are off a fraction premarket on light volume. ARRY is off 15% premarket on higher-than-normal volume.